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UPDATE: One shell casing was found at the scene of this carjacking, which hit the driver’s mirror. https://get-asp.com/nail

In some places in the world, carjacking is one of the chief dangers most people regularly face. Even in parts of the US, carjacking is incredibly common! (Detroit, for instance, has 2 a day) Knowing effective carjacking defense is a useful skill for self-defenders to have, and this video shows a good path.

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this effective carjacking defense? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against a carjacking?

Transitional spaces are places where we MUST be more careful of potential attack. A transitional space is any location that (1) allows attackers to prey on potential victims with an element of surprise and (2) provides ready escape for the attackers. The stupid teens used the cover of the door and the transitional space to launch their robbery from obscurity, which made the clerk react quickly and before he could process the information. Cars become transitional spaces when they’re stopped. If you’re in a stopped vehicle, you’re in a transitional space.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of situational awareness is that it buys you time and space to respond to a threat, and time and space buy you options when considering how to protect yourself and your loved ones from a threat. Time and space give you the chance to escape and evade, or time and space to get your force multiplier in the fight, and time and space to better your defensive position and give you a better chance to be victorious.

One of the best ways to protect yourself while you’re in the car is to simply drive off. The car can get away quickly if you are ready, taking you out of danger. So be ready to drive off if you need to! Keep the car in drive until you’re ready to get out. Keep the engine running. If you’re aware of your surroundings you can escape a lot of problems.

If you’re in the car, it’s worth considering the usefulness of the car lies in its speed. If you sit in it while it’s not running, you cannot use it to escape potential danger such as a carjacking. If you’re going to sit in the car, leave the car running, with an avenue to move (preferably forward), and preferably with the car still in drive if possible. At the very least, leave the car running. The car should be running the entire time you’re in it! When you get in, the order should be get in, lock the doors, start the engine, seat belt, drive off. When you park, the order is stop the car, gear in park, seatbelt off, stop the engine, IMMEDIATELY exit the vehicle and lock it.

Do not stay in the danger zone if you can possibly help it. So many times people get decision paralysis and freeze, but you cannot stay in a place where a deadly threat exists! Either act to leave the area, or act to protect yourself. Every second you give an attacker is another opportunity they have to do you and yours harm, so don’t allow that. If you can, get out of there immediately. If you can’t, then look for your opportunity to ensure your own safety by whatever means necessary. Before your Kung Fu, and before your Gun Fu, you should consider whether your best defense is Run Fu! Most attackers can’t shoot well, and if you get more than 10-15 yards from them can’t hit you when you’re moving. So get that distance to protect yourself from carjacking!

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

If you go read the news stories, this clerk said he was in fear for his life when he shot this teen robber. But fear must be reasonable and have objective evidence to back it up, and this video provides a lot of lessons on moral and legal self-defense for firearms carriers!

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this clerk facing charges for murder? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against a robber?

Transitional spaces are places where we MUST be more careful of potential attack. A transitional space is any location that (1) allows attackers to prey on potential victims with an element of surprise and (2) provides ready escape for the attackers. The stupid teens used the cover of the door and the transitional space to launch their robbery from obscurity, which made the clerk react quickly and before he could process the information.

One of the five pillars of lawful, moral self-defense is “proportionality,” (get a nutshell here: http://get-asp.com/wbbp or the whole concept here: http://get-asp.com/1fqe ). Proportionality requires that the response is proportional to the threat, and escalating conflict is not allowed legally or morally. When we fail the test of proportionality by escalating conflict, we lose our innocence in the eyes of the law and put ourselves at risk of spending significant time in prison. Proportionality is also why I carry a pepper spray, because non-lethal threats require non-lethal responses. (I carry this one: http://amzn.to/1kxJ3v8 ) To use deadly force there must be objective evidence of a deadly threat, and in this incident, the clerk can’t objectively say that the teen has the ability to do him deadly harm without a force multiplier on him. Therefore he fails the test of proportionality.

One of the pillars of lawful, moral self-defense is “reasonableness.” In every defensive incident we ask whether the actions of the defender were reasonable from an objective standpoint. Would an objective, reasonable person do what you did in the moment? A good test of whether your actions are reasonable is whether you did them to stop the threat or to punish someone (Charles Humes calls it “The Punisher Test”: https://get-asp.com/nybt it’s a good comparison) The reasonableness standard can feel vague, but think of it this way: would a sane, sober, good, moral person do what you did in the moment? Would Ned Flanders from “The Simpsons” do what you did? Would a reasonable person, in the situation you were in and knowing what you know, do what you did in the moment? The challenge here is that the clerk is charged because the DA believes he acted unreasonably, and now it’ll be up to the jury to decide if they agree. However, from an objective standard, shooting an unarmed person stealing a bong from your smoke shop is not reasonable.

One of the most significant paradigms of using deadly force is called the may-should-must paradigm. “May” asks whether your force is lawful (and, if LEO, within policy). “Should” asks whether the rewards outweigh the risks of not acting or of unintended consequences. “Must” asks whether this is the only course of action that can affect the necessary outcome. Knowing how to apply this paradigm in deadly force encounters, in the moment, is an important responsibility for self-defenders! Here, none of them are met, but CERTAINLY the “must” isn’t met and therefore you have to restrain yourself.

Please consider the cost of using your firearm to defend your property. Sure, you might be out an insurance deductible on your car (say, $500 or $1000) if someone steals it with no one inside, but if you shoot someone who doesn’t present an objective deadly threat to you and yours, it can cost you FAR more. Decent criminal defense attorneys charge $400 an hour for their services; the ones I trust charge $600 or more and require 10 hours of fees up front as a retainer. Pre-trial work can cost $10-20,000 in dealing with the prosecutor and the media. If the case actually goes to trial, it can cost $100,000 or more to work through. That’s not worth doing for property that can be replaced. So be smart about using your firearm in self-defense. (and consider getting some kind of legal protection for use of force…I compare them at get-asp.com/protcomp so check that out) This clerk may well do years in prison.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

ATM muggings are common in China like they are everywhere. This one went ugly in a hurry, and from it self-defenders can draw some lessons. This one is not for the faint of heart, friends.

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this ATM mugging? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against an ATM mugging?

Evil exists in our world, and no amount of wishing it away does so. Evil people do evil things, and good people must be ready and willing to stand between them and innocent people and do enough violence to stop them definitively. No amount of negotiation will make truly evil people change their ways; only those willing and able to stop them who use attitude, skills, and plan effectively can. There was no talking this guy down. None. The end of this attack was stopping him or running away, and the leveraging arm made that very difficult.

There’s a well-worn joke that ATM stands for “Accessory to Mugging,” and it’s not far from the truth. The ATM is of course a likely place to be attacked because it is a transitional space. Thieves and armed robbers can easily ambush you if your attention is engrossed in the machine, and they are built to allow for easy access and escape. When you’re at the ATM, be sure to be extra aware of what is going on around you. I even suggest standing with your back to the machine, or at least with your shoulders perpendicular to it so that you can constantly see what is happening around you!

A knife attacks does not happen like you’ve seen in Hollywood. They are brutal, fast, and mean. Stabbing attacks do not generally come from slashes or from any notice whatsoever, but tend to come from concealment and repeatedly stab at a rate of 2-3 stabs per second.

Spiritual fitness is an important part of Active Self Protection. You don’t often get any advance notice of the last day of your life, but we see over and over that self-defense isn’t a guarantee of winning every fight you might be placed in. You want to be at peace with your loved ones and with God, because you’ll need that peace on the day that you meet Him. Since you can’t guarantee advanced notice, make peace today.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

There are lots of lessons to learn from this video, both from the guard’s perspective as well as the actions of the robber. You must know your risk factors for being the target of a robber!

UPDATE: the robber was sentenced to 30 years for this crime (apparently the criminal justice system works fast in Panama): https://get-asp.com/b60b (Google translate required)

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this guard being targeted for his pistol? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against an armed attacker?

Evil exists in our world, and no amount of wishing it away does so. Evil people do evil things, and good people must be ready and willing to stand between them and innocent people and do enough violence to stop them definitively. No amount of negotiation will make truly evil people change their ways; only those willing and able to stop them who use attitude, skills, and plan effectively can. This guard couldn’t talk his way out of this murder.

The “master key” to situational awareness, as taught to me by my teacher Lawrence Robinson and his teacher Skip Hancock, is simple curiosity. You don’t have to be paranoid! Instead, simply be curious of your world like a small child is curious of their world. Look around you and really SEE. Look for what makes sense in your surroundings, but most importantly look for what’s out of place and doesn’t belong. I like to think back to the Sesame Street song “Three of These Things” and remember to look for the thing that doesn’t belong. As self-defenders, you’re looking for someone who doesn’t belong in their environment. A person standing still while everyone else moves. A person in a hoodie with the hood up when everyone else is in shorts and flip flops on a hot day. A person loitering where people come and go quickly. If you are curious and looking for what doesn’t belong, you’re 99% of the way there to being aware of your surroundings!

Attackers often stalk their intended victims for some time, silently “interviewing” them to see if they are an easy target. (there’s a great article in Psychology Today about the psychology of victim selection…read it!) Criminals absolutely look for opportune people and opportune times to ambush easy prey, so the solution to that is not to look like prey! The common adage is true, “If you don’t want to be eaten, don’t look like food.”

In any territorial or predatorial violence, the attacker gets to set the time and circumstances of the attack. They will almost always launch that attack from ambush, or as we like to call it in Umas, from “obscurity.” Surviving that ambush is one of the most important keys to successfully defending yourself.

Spiritual fitness is an important part of Active Self Protection. You don’t often get any advance notice of the last day of your life, but we see over and over that self-defense isn’t a guarantee of winning every fight you might be placed in. You want to be at peace with your loved ones and with God, because you’ll need that peace on the day that you meet Him. Since you can’t guarantee advanced notice, make peace today.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

A traffic stop can go sideways in a hurry like this one did, and having a lifesaving tool like a tourniquet handy can be as important as having your firearm on your person!

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this tourniquet saving an officer’s life? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against an armed attacker?

Evil exists in our world, and no amount of wishing it away does so. Evil people do evil things, and good people must be ready and willing to stand between them and innocent people and do enough violence to stop them definitively. No amount of negotiation will make truly evil people change their ways; only those willing and able to stop them who use attitude, skills, and plan effectively can.

It’s dark for half the day, and bad guys of all kinds love to launch ambushes from the dark. That means, as a self-defender, that part of having good situational awareness involves keeping a flashlight on your person. That flashlight doesn’t have to be crazy tacticool and shouldn’t be firearm-mounted, because its purpose is to help you see at night to give you better awareness of any potential threats far before they can hurt you. A VERY compact option that runs on AAs is this Streamlight: http://amzn.to/1U9S39H and I carry this 1000 lumen Fenix: http://amzn.to/1S73jjb which is rechargeable and has multiple modes of brightness. A middle ground that I have used very effectively is this Olight: http://amzn.to/29htS3q. I highly recommend a flashlight for everyone, simply as an awareness tool at night. Notice that the flashlight gave the officer a lot of information that even his headlights couldn’t.

Even if you’re injured, you must stay in the fight and not stop as long as you have consciousness. The human body is designed to take a ridiculous amount of injury and still function, so never stop fighting just because you’re injured! Even if you’re shot or stabbed, you have a 67-95% chance of surviving! (https://get-asp.com/ew3l and https://get-asp.com/p0hn give the details) So practice emotional fitness by knowing that even if the bad guy gets the jump and you’re injured, you’re still in the fight and still likely to survive if you take definitive action to protect yourself. As they say, the best cover is fire superiority and the best first aid is to end the threat!

First aid skills are important. If you’re going to train and prepare to take a life to defend yourself, you should also have skills, training, and equipment to save life should you need to. (I carry an individual first aid kit at a minimum: http://amzn.to/1Or4yVz ) Often that will not involve defensive encounters, and in a defensive encounter your primary responsibility is to yourself and your loved ones.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

This employee knew that she couldn’t get the gun our right away, and finding the right time to counter-ambush is the key to successfully pulling it off. I think she did it right. How about you?

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this employee looking for the right time to counter-ambush? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against an armed robbery?

Situational awareness is your best friend. It doesn’t mean that you always are paranoid or living in “condition orange,” but it does mean that you know Col. Cooper’s color code of awareness and you live by it. Pay attention to your surroundings, and recognize that when you’re in public places you need to be more aware of your surroundings than when you’re in private.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of situational awareness is that it buys you time and space to respond to a threat, and time and space buy you options when considering how to protect yourself and your loved ones from a threat. Time and space give you the chance to escape and evade, or time and space to get your force multiplier in the fight, and time and space to better your defensive position and give you a better chance to be victorious.

Transitional spaces are places where we MUST be more careful of potential attack. A transitional space is any location that (1) allows attackers to prey on potential victims with an element of surprise and (2) provides ready escape for the attackers.

If the attacker has a gun drawn on you, there is nothing you’re going to do in that moment to get your gun into the fight. It’s just not going to happen, and this video shows that tragically well. You cannot draw from the drop! When someone has the drop on you, with a gun out and attention on you, it’s suicide to go for your gun. You have to earn your draw against the drop, and you earn that draw by either waiting for a moment of distraction for the armed robber (like if he looks away to check for people coming) or by closing the gap and using empty-handed skills to take his opportunity to use his gun away. If you don’t do either of those, you will likely be shot before your gun is in the fight.

It’s a morally acceptable choice in an armed robbery to simply give the armed robber what they want. Only you can decide in the moment if the attacker is using their force multiplier as an intimidation tool or if they really intend to do you harm, and giving up your phone or wallet to escape the danger zone can be an acceptable choice. Either way, you must count the potential cost of your life vs. your possessions and take the best action that protects your life, which is infinitely more valuable than your things.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Attitude. Skills. Plan.

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

https://activeselfprotection.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Armed-Employee-Tries-to-Find-the-Right-Time-to-Counter-Ambush.jpg12662240John Correiahttps://activeselfprotection.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ASP-Logo4-300x111-300x111.pngJohn Correia2017-06-20 09:10:442017-06-20 09:18:56Armed Employee Tries to Find the Right Time to Counter-Ambush

Off body carry is better than not carrying at all, but this ambush is a stark reminder of why it is not recommended by any trainer that I know of. Learn the limitations!

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this ambush? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against an ambush?

Evil exists in our world, and no amount of wishing it away does so. Evil people do evil things, and good people must be ready and willing to stand between them and innocent people and do enough violence to stop them definitively. No amount of negotiation will make truly evil people change their ways; only those willing and able to stop them who use attitude, skills, and plan effectively can. The victim, Denis Voronenkov, knew he had death threats against his life. No amount of wishful thinking would stop them.

The “master key” to situational awareness, as taught to me by my teacher Lawrence Robinson and his teacher Skip Hancock, is simple curiosity. You don’t have to be paranoid! Instead, simply be curious of your world like a small child is curious of their world. Look around you and really SEE. Look for what makes sense in your surroundings, but most importantly look for what’s out of place and doesn’t belong. I like to think back to the Sesame Street song “Three of These Things” and remember to look for the thing that doesn’t belong. As self-defenders, you’re looking for someone who doesn’t belong in their environment. A person standing still while everyone else moves. A person in a hoodie with the hood up when everyone else is in shorts and flip flops on a hot day. A person loitering where people come and go quickly. If you are curious and looking for what doesn’t belong, you’re 99% of the way there to being aware of your surroundings! Perhaps the greatest thing in this incident that I see is that neither Voronenkov nor his bodyguard were curious of their surroundings. That guy was right on top of them before they knew of his existence.

Transitional spaces are places where we MUST be more careful of potential attack. A transitional space is any location that (1) allows attackers to prey on potential victims with an element of surprise and (2) provides ready escape for the attackers. The sidewalk was the transitional space that allowed the assassin to sneak up on Voronenkov and his bodyguard and ambush them.

On body carry is the preferred method of keeping your force multipliers, whether a firearm or another tool. Purse carry is shown repeatedly to be less effective at retention, less effective at draw and accuracy, and much more likely to be a target in an attack. (for more on purse carry, read this: https://get-asp.com/s0gk )

Spiritual fitness is an important part of Active Self Protection. You don’t often get any advance notice of the last day of your life, but we see over and over that self-defense isn’t a guarantee of winning every fight you might be placed in. You want to be at peace with your loved ones and with God, because you’ll need that peace on the day that you meet Him. Since you can’t guarantee advanced notice, make peace today.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Defending against someone who wants to hurt you with a knife is no small feat, and this video shows that well. However, if we know the principles of knife defense we give ourselves some hope!

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this knife defense and attack? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against a knife attack?

An under-utilized aspect of understanding dimensional stages of action is using hard barriers to stay out of contact of the potential harm that an attacker wants to do to us. That could mean keeping the counter between us and a knife-wielding armed robber, or keeping a car between us and a mugger in a parking lot. Closing a door to a safe room in our home would be similar. Don’t underestimate the value in simply keeping a hard barrier between you and the threat so that the threat is out of contact, which gives you time to consider other defensive strategies!

It’s actually quite rare to see someone with two knives in a knife attack. Almost always they use one knife with a leveraging arm, but this attacker was clearly deranged and drunk and so he used two. Just goes to show that real life is unpredictable!

A knife attacks does not happen like you’ve seen in Hollywood. They are brutal, fast, and mean. Stabbing attacks do not generally come from slashes or from any notice whatsoever, but tend to come from concealment and repeatedly stab at a rate of 2-3 stabs per second.

You must know the range of your force multiplier and the range of various force multipliers that might be used against you. Knives are short-range, fast moving force multipliers. Firearms are extremely long-range, fast moving force multipliers.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

There are ample reasons that we tell you not to let conflicts escalate, but to purposefully de-escalate. This one went from verbal to physical to potentially deadly in a hurry!

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this conflict escalation? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves against an escalating conflict and assault?

Sometimes the danger that you must protect yourself and your family from isn’t evil, but is rather deranged. People who aren’t in their right faculties can be a real danger to your family, even if they are not inherently evil. You need the attitude, skills, and plan to protect yourself from evil AND from non-evil threats that pop up! A drunk can escalate a conflict SO fast, and even people who aren’t dangerous when sober can become dangerous in a hurry when they’re impaired.

If you can win “the fight before the fight,” you win. You win that fight by minimizing your potential for being attacked in the first place! That means making smart decisions and living a life of awareness and readiness so that you don’t take unnecessary risks.

Using your verbal judo to de-escalate and redirect a conflict is always the best choice if it is available, so make sure that your verbal game is strong. Knowing how to redirect, how to persuade, how to empathize, and how to talk someone down from a confrontation is critical to avoiding some fights. That said, we must also know that some people will not be dissuaded from a fight, so knowing when to talk and when to act is critical as well.

Part of your training must be knowing when to use verbal commands, and when to abandon verbal commands and move to physical or deadly force. Many times self-defenders (and LEO) get caught in a loop of issuing the same command repeatedly to no effect. Using verbal commands is an important part of your force options training, and part of that training in verbal commands is knowing when to talk and when to stop talking and act.

Empty-handed skills are absolutely critical for self-defenders. First of all, more conflicts you will encounter as a self-defender will require empty-handed skills than will require firearms skills, simply because more self-defense encounters are physical than deadly. Second, since a firearm is a tool of last resort, self-defenders need to have non-lethal options that include empty-handed skills to protect themselves from likely incidents. Third, in the moment of the encounter you may not have the time to get to your gun before you can fight your way to it.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

These robbers thought they had an easy mark, but the Bystander enjoying his beer wasn’t having it! Would you have stepped in or just stayed in the shadows?

If you value what we do at ASP, would you consider becoming an ASP Patron Member to support the work it takes to make the narrated videos like this bystander getting it done? https://get-asp.com/patron gives the details and benefits.

What does this video teach us about defending ourselves from a robber?

You must accept that danger exists and that it can happen to you. This is the foundational core of spiritual fitness and the first step in taking proactive steps to protect yourself and your loved ones. If you live in a fantasyland that nothing bad can happen because nothing bad has happened in the past, you’re setting yourself up for a terrible letdown. I bet this bystander drinking his beer wasn’t looking to be a hero, but the danger came his way!

Transitional spaces are places where we MUST be more careful of potential attack. A transitional space is any location that (1) allows attackers to prey on potential victims with an element of surprise and (2) provides ready escape for the attackers.

Every person gets to decide who they are willing to protect. For some, their “flock” is only themselves and their immediate family. That’s an acceptable answer. For others, they are willing to protect their friends, coworkers, and extended family. For a few, it might mean being willing to protect anyone who is weak, powerless, and in need. Each of us must decide the size of our flock and have that decision firmly in mind when it is time to act.

As each of us considers whether to be a Good Samaritan and step into encounters that do not directly involve us, we must consider the implications on our lives and families. Does your desire to step in override your duty to your spouse and children and loved ones? Or is it part of your care for your family to protect others wherever you can? We must also all realize that when we come across an incident in progress that it can be VERY difficult to determine who is the aggressor and who is the defender, who are the good guys and who are the bad guys, and that must give us pause as well.

The “Five Ds Plus 1” are a tool that we use at ASP to organize our training and preparation for defending ourselves against an armed attacker when we are not armed ourselves. (or if we are armed but outdrawn such that we must deal with the problem with our hands) First, before the others, we need to control Distance. (it’s the plus 1…it stands by itself and is the gateway to the others working) Then Deflect, Dominate, Distract, Disarm, Disable. We pursue them from first to last, in order, to give us the best chance of successfully defending ourselves against an armed opponent. Close the Distance to the place where we can effectively use our empty-handed skills. Deflect their force multiplier, Dominate as much as possible (best is the whole person, second is the arm with the tool, last is the tool itself), Distract the attacker (usually using pain, redirection, movement, etc.), Disarm the attacker, and Disable the attacker.

There are 3 additional lessons for Patron Members and 3 class starters for Instructors from this video, so please join us in those programs to see them!

Copyright Disclaimer. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.